11 Children Dead In MP Cough Syrup Tragedy: Families Forced To Travel 150 km To Nagpur For Lack Of Medical Facilities

Standing outside Parasia police station, Prakash Yaduvanshi waited to provide testimony about his son's death. He held a folder containing documentation from six dialysis procedures and discharge papers from three medical facilities.

The Chhindwara district resident explained that he had no choice but to seek treatment at private hospitals in Nagpur due to inadequate care at government facilities. This decision proved financially devastating. Traveling nearly 150 kilometers to Maharashtra's Nagpur cost him seven lakh rupees for hospital care and dialysis, raised through selling his wife's jewelry and borrowing from neighbors. Eventually, continuing dialysis became financially impossible.

From August through October, at least eleven children from Chhindwara district perished, allegedly following consumption of tainted cough medicine. On Saturday, Madhya Pradesh authorities mandated immediate cessation of Coldrif Syrup sales and distribution, produced by Sresan Pharmaceutical. Laboratory analysis from Chennai's Government Drug Testing facility determined the sample was contaminated, containing Diethylene Glycol at 48.6 percent concentration, a toxic substance potentially harmful to health.

Beyond the contamination issue, this tragedy has exposed significant deficiencies in Chhindwara's healthcare infrastructure. Despite having a recently established medical college, multiple hospitals, and private clinics, the district operates without a single dialysis facility. The Parasia block's civil hospital faces shortages of specialized physicians and supporting staff.

Historically recognized for coal mining operations and bustling commercial centers among the district's largest after Chhindwara town, Parasia maintains sufficient prosperity for numerous physicians to operate practices. Medical facilities, pharmacies, and the bus terminal all sit within one to three kilometers. The town functions as a junction for residents from surrounding areas including Amarwara, Amla, Pipariya, Tamia, and Junnardeo. While adequate for minor health concerns, the town's infrastructure proves insufficient for serious complications.

Sub-Divisional Magistrate Vikas Kumar Yadav confirmed the absence of dialysis centers throughout Chhindwara district. He noted that the area's historical coal mining industry created relative economic stability, and combined with proximity to Nagpur, patients typically prefer immediate travel there for treatment.

When Majid Khan brought his five-year-old grandson Adnan to Chhindwara District Hospital on August 28, relatives stated no physicians were available. A local private clinic diagnosed kidney problems and advised what families consistently hear—better specialists practice in Nagpur.

Between August 28 and September 6, Adnan underwent dialysis at a Nagpur private hospital. The family expended 4.5 lakh rupees through borrowing and selling jewelry. They subsequently transferred him to Nagpur Medical College seeking more affordable care. Khan expressed that valuable time was lost traveling, and his grandson might have survived with better facilities in Madhya Pradesh.

Rishika, a five-year-old farmer's daughter, developed fever and cough on August 25. After receiving cough syrup, she vomited throughout the night. The following morning, her family returned to the physician, who administered injections that worsened her condition. She became disoriented and couldn't recognize family members. They rushed to Nagpur for treatment, where individual dialysis sessions cost 60,000 rupees at private facilities beginning September 2. On September 16, her father Suresh exhausted his funds. He discharged his daughter, who died ten minutes later in his arms as they desperately searched for affordable dialysis.

Yasin Khan's son Ushaid, who would have celebrated his fourth birthday on October 10, became ill on August 25. After local physician Aman Siddiqui prescribed cough syrup and treatment failed, the boy stopped urinating. The family traveled to Nagpur, where blood work revealed kidney failure. Following three days of dialysis at New Health City Hospital, Ushaid died during an MRI procedure on September 15. Yasin sold his auto-rickshaw, his wife's sewing machine, household items, and jewelry to raise the 3.5 lakh rupees needed for treatment and travel.

Four-year-old Vikas's family, all laborers residing in a two-room earthen home on 2.5 acres of marginal farmland, spent 2.4 lakh rupees on his care. After consuming cough syrup around August 19, Vikas began vomiting. Referred from Parasia to Chhindwara to Nagpur, he received two days of treatment before dying. His grandfather Bare Lal stated that Vikas represented their hope, and now that hope has vanished.

Chanchlesh fell ill on September 16 at age seven, weeks after initial cases emerged, following a similar pattern. His parents, Chainwati and Sifal, work as daily wage laborers. The family spent four to five lakh rupees, selling all jewelry—their sole assets—in under two weeks. Chainwati described how her son's life ebbed away as they traveled between hospitals by bus and train.

Yojita's family, whose father teaches at a private school, spent twelve to fifteen lakh rupees through borrowing and liquidating fixed deposits. She became ill on September 7, received treatment in Nagpur, returned to Chhindwara, then was transferred to Lata Mangeshkar Hospital in Nagpur, where she died on October 1. The family received one lakh rupees from a Mumbai nonprofit and 60,000 rupees from the government toward expenses. Her grandfather, Lekhram Thakre, expressed dissatisfaction with Chhindwara facilities, necessitating the return to Nagpur where she had been on ventilator support.

Following these cough syrup-related deaths, the Union Health Secretary convened a high-level meeting with states and Union Territories regarding cough syrup quality and rational usage.

The meeting emphasized strict adherence to Revised Schedule M guidelines for good manufacturing practices in pharmaceuticals, identifying non-compliant facilities and initiating severe action against them.

States and Union Territories received guidance to ensure appropriate cough syrup usage, particularly for children, while strengthening surveillance, ensuring timely reporting from health facilities, wider distribution of community reporting tools, and enhanced interstate coordination for early reporting and collective action.

The Madhya Pradesh deaths coincide with at least four recent fatalities in Rajasthan, where children allegedly died after consuming cough syrup. Rajasthan has prohibited distribution of cough syrups containing Dextromethorphan and banned distribution of all nineteen medicine types supplied by Kaysons Pharma, the company at the controversy's center, until further notice.